One thing I am always impressed about on Docudharma is how we not only talk about how to change the political system that currently exists but how to upend it using disruptive politics, technologies and techniques.
We talk about restoring the centrality of community to our lives. It is this concept of community which, many of us feel, will provide a needed bulwark against the depredation of corporate feudalists and looters.
The social aspect of community, and what Americans are lacking in that regard, is well established and has been for a long time.
It's not my favorite genre of music, but the best example of exactly what I think of as wrong in terms of American community or lack thereof goes like this:
And, if you think about it this way, the fact that our culture is sick and overrun with parasitism begins to make sense if you think about it in an organic way.
For decades, we have had a monoculture of American expectations .. what Americans are supposed to do, how Americans are supposed to live.
But one thing you learn about in Biology 101, is that monocultures die out. Why do they die out? Because they are far more vulnerable to predation by parasites. Any given parasite can more easily infect and destroy a population if that population is the same than if there are many different and varied populations.
The Great Green Hope for lifting America's economy is not looking so robust. [...]
Growth in clean energy industries and in green jobs has been considerably slower and bumpier than anticipated, industry experts say.
[...]
Last week, the Gamesa wind turbine plant in western Pennsylvania announced it was laying off nearly half its 280 workers. Last month, General Electric said it would close a solar panel factory in Delaware
[...]
There are myriad reasons why green jobs have grown more slowly than hoped. The clean energy component of the $787 billion stimulus package has only recently started to kick in. Energy experts say that banks, which have been reluctant to lend generally, have been especially loath to lend for alternative energy projects.
And renewable-energy companies are hesitating to invest in new plants and equipment before Congress enacts new environmental mandates, like cap and trade, to limit carbon emissions.
[...]
When it comes to getting around, Americans love to consider the question of "what if...?"
As a result, our cars have evolved into "land yachts", our trucks have become "monster trucks", and the desire to drag our living spaces around with us has morphed into converted busses with rooms that pop out of the side, a Mini-Cooper hidden under the master bedroom floor, and self-tracking satellite dishes that fight for space on the roof with air conditioning equipment.
And for more than a few of us, "what if...?" has even extended to "what if my car...was a jet car?"
In today's improbable reality I'm here to tell you that Chrysler engineers asked that exact same question, for roughly a quarter of a century, and as a result they actually designed and deployed seven generations of cars with jet engines-and they came darn close to putting the eighth-generation design on sale to the general public.
It's a story of pocket protectors and slide rules and offices full of guys who look a bit like Drew Carey...but as we'll see in Part Two, it may also be a story of technology that couldn't be perfected "back then", but could be reborn in our own times.
"People who are my age have no idea what they are going to do," Suter said, trying to angle a workbench into his trailer. "How they are going to live on $12 an hour without benefits when we're used to $29 with benefits? You can't make an economy on cleaning somebody else's shirts or selling mutual funds. What are towns like Ypsilanti going to do?"
Ypsilanti is not the most besieged city in Michigan, but is an auto town, and its problems mirror those of the larger industrial Midwest. Just four square miles and 35 miles west of Detroit, it has lost more than 25 percent of its population since 1970. Schools have closed, as did its two other auto-related plants. Outside the Visteon plant, located on Factory Street in Ypsilanti alongside Interstate 94 and Ford Lake, the building that housed the UAW Local 849 is for sale. --snip--
Well hello everyone, and welcome to a new edition of the Manufacturing series! For those new to the Manufacturing series, I try to cover anything related to the topic at hand regarding new developments like green manufacturing. Our industrial base has been neglected, its foundations eroded due to short-sightedness. Thankfully, though, America (and our friends up North) have learned to survive in this new mad environment. American manufacturing is always transforming, counted out by many, the assembly-line man and woman in this country have shown they not only could get the job done, but often better!
Been ill again, so haven't kept up. Rest assured, I'm in somewhat top form now. But enough about me, we got manufacturing stuff to talk about! Some interesting news out there, but first, of course the Numbers!
Welcome everyone to the latest edition in the Manufacturing series. I do hope everyone is doing better than our economy. The President was on television talking about jobs. He had visited a town in Indiana where the unemployment rate had reached 18%. The stimulus plan being laid before us, President Obama hopes, will eventually lead to several million jobs. But before we get to the latest on jobs and manufacturing, let's look at this week's Numbers.
Hello friends, welcome to another edition of the Manufacturing series. This was intended to be released yesterday, but family issues came up that needed to be resolved (this seems to be happening a lot to me on these days lately!). So, please accept my appologies on the delay. Saying that, though there is a silver lining, I'm going to go ahead and basically give you a more "fresher" version of what was planned for yesterday (I normally write these up on Saturday and Sunday). So without further adieu....
Greetings, Mister President, congratulations on your recent electoral victory and inauguration. I, like many others, voted for you in the hopes that our nation would be steered in a new direction. Normally, I try and put out a blog piece highlighting certain news and tidbits in regards to manufacturing in this country. It's not one of the best blogs in the world, nor one of the worst. I'm no one of great importance either, just another blog writer among many who hope to voice an opinion or two or highlight something. Trust me, there are much better bloggers out there. Chances are you will never hear of this blog, or series, or entry. Still, in the slight hope that you may hear about this or even read it, I wish to bring something up, that well to me at least, is of great importance.
It's the start of the new calendar year, the start of a new Presidential administration (well on the 20th actually), and of course the start of the first business quarter. We got in some disturbing, ok that's putting it mildly, some crappy manufacturing news from the gang at ISM. The steel industry, in hopes of restoring some business, initiates a new campaign. Arizona & Michigan are starting a green jobs plans. All this, but first...
Greetings folks, I hope your holiday season is going well. In case you were wondering, there was no Manufacturing update last week, family and health related issues. This week will be kinda short, my apologies, but I wanted to cut some of the gloom and doom for the holiday season. We got stuff on solar energy, a new grant system for electric car innovation, milestones on wind, and something for the kids! But as always, we hit our first section...
My oh my, what an interesting week, and I don't mean that in a good way. From our trade deficit to our automakers on the brink of joining our domestic consumer electronics firms, things aren't looking all that swell. The latest indicators are showing, at least for November, what has been on everyone's mind, the economy. Some are saying, though that things will pick up, that the recession began a year ago and we'll come through it by 2009. We'll see, when the average worker is able to stop worrying not just about making rent or that mortgage payment, but also putting food on the table, then I'll agree. Globally, like the United States, things for now look dim. And like I said, the figures show it...which leads us to the Numbers!
What happened at that Chicago manufacturing plant brought back alot of memories of how extremely talented workers fought for what they knew were their rights, decent wages for their labor, on the job safety, trading wages for benefits like health and welfare directly and much much more. Fights that shouldn't have really happened in a real model of capitalism where all should share directly in the quality and growth of their work and the companies they work for.
We need to return to that pride in company and product, quality products and customer service, correcting the defaults, and growth for all, owners, workers, and investors.
Damn, talk about a pretty intense week! The auto sector looks like it just...just might get saved. Still, it looks as if the issue of over capacity is being looked on, which means job cuts. Sadly, that seems to be the theme of this week's manufacturing update. Well actually there is something on health care...think of it as "nyceve lite". They say it gets darkest before the light, well this must be a long tunnel then. ISM is saying that '09 will suck as bad as 2008. Well before I dispense with the unfortunates, it's time for the Numbers!
Amazing, simply amazing. For the past two days I've been watching these hearings on the automakers, and find myself more aghast than anything else. Actually, it's more than that. I think I've had this almost sickening feeling, a feeling where anger is meshed in with a humiliation and sadness. It isn't just the automakers that has been the cause of this, but that they symbolize how far we've fallen.
(My apologies folks, for the delay. This was supposed to be published this morning, but I had rush a sick wiener dog to one of those emergency vet places. Rest assured, he's Ok, and probably won't eat another sock again!)
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another edition of Manufacturing Monday...er Tuesday! Originally I wanted to post this on Monday morning, but I wanted to include the latest development from the Boeing SPEEA talks. Outside of this we got news from the steel industry, unfortunately not the good kind. Sticking with steel for a moment, there's an op-ed piece I wish to highlight that I thought you should look at. We have news or alarm bells I should say about pensions. Of course we also have some Green news, some ominous, but some good.
But before we get to those, let's take a look at the Numbers!
Our economic situation has been all over the news. Banks are failing, credit is contracting, the auto industry is crying for a bailout. Clearly, the U.S. economy has gotten derailed, and we're now faced with the unenviable task of getting it back on track. The trouble is, we don't know which track is the right track.
Or do we?
Suppose there exists a valid interpretation of economic forces and outcomes, one that explains our current situation, yet one that no one will acknowledge, even to knock down.
About 12 years ago I picked up Cities and the Wealth of Nations: Principles of Economic Life by Jane Jacobs (better known as the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities) at a used bookstore in upstate New York. Jacobs wrote this book in 1983, in response the emergence of stagflation. As an informed and educated layperson, she examined economic history with a critical eye and an urbanist's heart, looking for the laws that explained what was going on -- which the economic theories of the time did not.
Greetings ladies and gentlemen and welcome to a new installment of Manufacturing Monday. Now I would like to do something a tad different this week. You see today we get two important economic indicators released. So, instead of waiting a whole week for me to reprise them here, I would go ahead and write about then today! I will still go over last week's indicators, but figured you deserve to get something more up to date as well. The numbers get released around 9:30 Eastern, so they will be covered first, then last week's stuff.
Beyond the Numbers section, this week we'll be covering Green Manufacturing again. We haven't touched this in a while, what with all the GM related business. Yet there have been some very interesting developments in the green collar world. So before you, for your pleasure, is some stuff that may or may not put a smile on your face. Either way, it looks as if, thankfully, we are turning a new leaf (sorry, couldn't help it) on manufacturing!
Today we conclude our small series on General Motors. As you can probably tell by now, I favor helping out the company. The company has history of market incompetence, it not only failed to meet various customer demands. Adding to this, it designed its product line in such a way that made it at times more at the mercy of the price of petroleum than anything else. Saying this, there are reasons to keep GM alive.
In our first installment, we introduced you to the current battle for the fate of General Motors. We highlighted why they share some if not all of the blame for their current situation. We talked about the various sides involved in one way or another with the situation of GM. Today we tackle the big question, what many deemed "unthinkable" previously, what bankruptcy would mean for General Motors and you.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another installment of Manufacturing Monday. Today we are going to cover something that has been in the news lately, General Motors. Well to be exact, the potential bankruptcy of GM, and what it could mean to you. For many, this is a non-issue, who cares about another car company and a failing one at that? But indeed, it may just be that a collapse of GM could be worse than that of Lehman Brothers and AIG. Of course we'll cover, as always, the economic indicators for the past week and what they also mean. So without further adieu, the Numbers!
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
